Community members remember Smithton on march to bicentennial

COLUMBIA - People gathered near the intersection of North Garth Avenue and East Walnut Street in West Columbia Sunday afternoon to remember the community of Smithton.

The Smithton Company bought nearly 3,000 acres in mid-Missouri in November 1818 and put the center of their new town in what is now West Columbia. The settlement was made up of just 20 families, mainly coming from Kentucky.

In May of 1821, Smithton was moved to the East side of Flat Branch Creek and renamed Columbia.

"I've always been fascinated by the people's shoulders that we stand on. The people who had the guts to buy this land," Richard Mendenhall, a fourth generation Columbia resident said. "The vision that they had is why we are here."

The City of Columbia put on the event, the first of many events they will host in anticipation of the city's bicentennial celebration in 2021.

"It's my hope our bicentennial will welcome the opportunity to tell Columbia's history to all audiences in a new and different way, to celebrate the diversity that we all share in this history," Columbia Mayor Brian Treece said.